


When I close my eyes, the miles melt away

by JustBeHappy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Can now be seen as Season 6 fix-it, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lots of dialogue, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Post-Season/Series 05, Red is definitely trolling Lance, Star Wars References, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-14 07:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14765489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustBeHappy/pseuds/JustBeHappy
Summary: At the same time, Allura had also figured out where exactly Lance was heading towards, "Lance, it appears that the Red Lion is taking you to the Blade of Marmora main base. On autopilot."Lance screamed.ORRed is done with Lance's pining and decides to take him directly to Keith.





	1. asymptote

**Author's Note:**

> Hiiiii! Guess who binge-watched all 5 seasons of Voltron and fell into Klance hell!!! 
> 
> *master procrastinator does it again* 
> 
> Gosh, I'm so excited for Season 6 (all those teasers and new interviews!!!) so I decided to write something! 
> 
> Aaaaand I'm apologising in advance if something seems out of place or the characters are OOC; I'm still relatively new to writing these characters! :D
> 
> Without further ado, enjoy!

 Lance's favourite colour was blue. It reminded him of home.

 Home, meaning the Varadero waves where he spent most of his childhood navigating, the chipped paint of his father's truck, the hydrangeas his grandmother kept in the window boxes, the annoying beaded bracelet his sister was rarely seen without, his mother's favourite dress and his eyes every time he looked into the mirror. Blue was a constant at the Mcclain household.

 Blue was  _Lance's_ colour.

 Red, however, was a colour Lance had associated with Keith. He was no expert in art, but he knew enough of its symbolism in literature to tell that it was all things Keith, meaning impulsive, hot-headed and strong. Oh, throw in the stupid leather jacket he was so fond of. 

 When Shiro went missing, Keith was accepted by the Black Lion to be the Black Paladin and Lance was shoved into a new identity along with a Lion and a new bayard.

 He remembered that Keith sought him out at Red's hangar shortly before he had given Allura the blue bayard. 

 "You're the Red Paladin now," Keith said, his eyes not quite meeting Lance's. "So I should be giving you this." The red bayard materialised in his hand. 

 "Ohh right, I almost forgot. Remind me to give Allura the blue bayard later. Gee," Lance took the red bayard deftly and weighed it. "It's red."

 Keith scowled, crossing his arms, "What do you expect? It's the bayard of the Red Paladin." 

 With a flash, the bayard transformed into the familiar blaster. He smirked and struck a dramatic pose, "I mean, it doesn't exactly fit with my entire blue colour scheme, but with a handsome face like mine, I'm sure I'll make it work." 

 Keith almost choked with laughter. 

 ( ~~Lance had never seen him laugh before~~.) 

 "So you've got the black bayard now, huh?" Lance asked, and regretted it instantly. Shiro was still a sore topic for everyone. 

 Pain flashed in Keith's eyes, "Yes." 

 "Come on, man, don't be down. We'll find him," Lance swatted him lightly in the arm. "I know being the Black Paladin is a lot of responsibility, but now that I'm your right hand, I'm supposed to help you." 

 Keith smiled tentatively, "Thank you. Um, and take good care of Red."

 "Oh, fly your own Lion, Keith!" Lance quipped, and paused. "I hope you get settled with the new position soon." 

 Of course, Keith didn't get settled into the new position immediately. His first few moments of being the new leader involved a wild goose chase on a storm planet and many angry yells from both Lance and Keith.

 But Keith was learning, fast. He was becoming a good leader even if he was going in an entirely different direction as Shiro. 

 While Keith and Allura both had some trouble adapting to their new lions, Lance was lucky enough to have bonded almost instantly with Red. He could have been stuck with a highly reluctant and uncooperative Lion.

 Blue would always have a special place in Lance's heart, but he was perfectly contented with being the Red Paladin and Keith's second-in-command (he would never admit this out loud to anyone else), right until Keith decided to leave Team Voltron for the Blade of Marmora, leaving Lance to ponder over his place in the team all over again. 

 As he watched Keith's ship leave the atmosphere of the planet, he jammed his hands into his jacket pocket and thought optimistically,  _well Shiro's back and Pidge is probably going to find her brother. Everything is going to be okay. What could go wrong?_

"You alright, man?" Hunk asked, wrapping an arm over his shoulder after the team went back into the castleship. "You were spacing out." 

 "I'm fine. Just a little tired from all the flying," Lance forced a smile.

 "Really? You should take a nap then," Hunk suggested. 

 "I will. Don't worry. What's for dinner?" 

 Hunk's enthusiasm about chocolate pudding flavoured space goo was enough to set Lance's mind at ease. 

 

***

 

 It was simply shocking how many things could go wrong at the same time. 

 "Heeey, buddy, you up?" Lance waved a hand in front of Red. He had just fled from the mess hall with the excuse of 'wanting to get some fresh air'. 

 If anyone knew that it was just a blatant ploy to escape from Lotor's company, they most certainly didn't bring it up. Every time Lance and Lotor were in the same room, something was bound to happen. 

  _Yes._

 Red activated almost instantaneously with a roar per usual, and lowered his jaw to let Lance in. 

 The past few months were honestly a nightmare. 

 At first, the effects of Keith's departure didn't affect them much. Pidge managed to find his brother, Hunk discovered how to make milkshakes and the Voltron shows with Bii-Boh-Bi were just hilarious. 

 Then, Naxzela happened, Lotor of all people saved their lives, proceeded to defeat Zarkon and declared himself the new Galra Emperor in just a matter of weeks. As if the Galran Empire wasn't chaotic enough, the rest of the Generals descended into war and started vying for more power. They seemed to have a common enemy though - Voltron. 

 The team dynamics took a turn for the worse when trouble was literally waiting for them. Everyone was on the verge of breakdown- and acting weird. Especially Shiro. 

 (Thanks so much for nothing, Keith.) 

 So when the nights on the castleship were too unbearable, Lance would sneak on board Red and hide from everyone else. Sometimes he would talk to Red about his family. Sometimes he would just sit there and stare at the red hued walls as if when he concentrated hard enough, something might show up on there. Occasionally, he would fall asleep and wake up to find Hunk shouting disapprovingly at him from below with a tray of breakfast.  

 Red was the only place Lance could properly relax in and not feel so alone. Add a few family photos and a bed, it might pass as Lance's bedroom back on Earth. 

(  ~~Maybe it was because Red was the only connection Lance had with Keith~~.)

  _Something is wrong? You seem to be on edge_.Red rumbled quizzically through their shared bond. 

 "How do you know?" Lance asked, ripping open the package of a ration bar he had kept in a secret compartment and nibbled on the edge of the bar. 

 Ugh. He could do with one of Hunk's milkshakes right now, brain freeze be damned. 

  _Do you want to talk about it?_

 "Oh, what now, Red? Are you offering to be my therapist?" Lance teased, scraping up some of his Razzle-Dazzle-ness. 

  _Lance._ Red didn't sound amused. 

 Lance threw his hands up in the air exasperatedly, "Fine! I'll talk. You're right. There are so many things I'd like to get off my chest and I seriously don't know what to do anymore."  

  _Is it Prince L'Oreal ad you're talking about?_ Red snorted, having picked up Lance's many creative nicknames for Lotor from his infamous rants. 

 He grinned weakly,  "Yes, the one and only Prince Purple Legolas. But he's not the only problem. Look, Pidge and Hunk might be saying I'm paranoid, but I don't trust him. Mark my words, he's going to betray us all when the time comes. And argh, no one listens to me when I rant about Lotor-"

  _Because they think you're jealous of him?_

"That's the problem!" Lance snapped his fingers in frustration. "They all think I'm just jealous of him for spending so much time with Allura. Okay, maybe I am just a  _teensy_ jealous of him hanging out with a beautiful Princess all the time, but Allura isn't the only person I care about! I know a shady guy when I see one. All those Altean alchemy bla bla bla White Lion bla bla bla, he's just using Allura for his own gain! If Keith is here, I don't think he will be that trusting."

 _Huh. Will Keith trust Lotor?_ Red rumbled thoughtfully. 

 "O-of course not! _"_ Lance bristled. "The Mullet Man hates the guy. He'll side with me." 

  _Hm._

 There was a long pause. Lance could almost imagine a cartoon version of Red raising his eyebrows judgementally in his mind. He didn't even know the Red Lion was capable of saying cryptic things such as 'hm'. Who taught him that?! 

 "Okay! Okay! I don't know! Every time Lotor wants to do something, Shiro goes nuts. And speaking of Shiro..." Lance took a deep breath, and said in a hushed voice, "I think there's something wrong with Shiro." 

  _You mean the time he yelled at you?_ Red growled. He wasn't there at the time, but he could feel Lance's distress from miles away when Shiro lashed out at him. 

 "Not only that. Do you remember the time at Olkari? When we all blacked out after pushing our bayards into the slot?" 

  _Yes. I sensed something was wrong, but I didn't ask._

Lance briefly described the strange glowing Shiro he saw and the painfully awkward conversation he had with Shiro after the battle. He also mentioned Shiro's insistence to take the Black Lion to Kral Zera, when most of the team was against it. It wasn't like Shiro to completely disregard his team's opinions, especially Allura. 

  _This... Is troubling._ Red seemed hesitant.  _I don't know if the Black Lion has sensed this. Has anyone else noticed?_

"I think Allura is suspecting something, but she's too busy working with Lotor to investigate. Besides, I can't just walk up to Shiro and ask him stuff like that. He's my role model. I look up to him," Lance wobbled back and forth on his seat. "Even if I tell the others, they will think I'm crazy."

 ( "We're not talking to you, Lance," Pidge said peevishly and called out for Shiro to take him away. Lance knew Pidge would never be mean to him under normal circumstances, but it still hurt more than he expected.) 

  _Oh. Do I need to roar at them for making you upset?_

 Lance sat up straight, almost giving himself a whiplash, "NO, Red, I'm fine. Pidge and Hunk are my friends. They're just stressed out." 

  _You sure? I can go roar at them now if you want._ The entire Lion shuddered and creaked ominously. 

 "NO NO NO!!!" Lance waved his arms around, "You don't need to!" 

   _Humph._

Lance admitted something he would never ever admit to anyone else, "I just wish Keith is here."

  _Well, why don't you try to contact him?_

Lance laughed drily, "Ha, the last time I saw him face to face, was when he left us. Afterwards, it was all video conferences with the Blade. Besides, Kolivan will be mad if I try to contact him."

  _Really._

 He flipped up the hood of his jacket and boomed in what he had hoped to be an accurate imitation of Kolivan's gruff voice, "This is against the Blade protocol, boy. If you are not calling for the sake of the mission, I advise you not to contact us or my protege again." 

 Red chuckled. 

 "Keith is one of the best strategists-wait no, scratch that, he's just going to march in with a bayard...  _I_ am the better strategist here. If there is anyone we can count on for being intuitive, it is Keith. He's a much better leader than we give him credit for."  

  _You miss Keith,_ Red stated plainly. 

 "I - What?! Don't be kidding! Who said I miss Samurai?! I'm glad I don't have to see his disaster of a hairstyle!" Lance's ears turned red. "I can't care any less about him! I don't care if he's prancing around with the Galra version of the Jedi Order!" 

  _Lance._

"Well maybe I miss making fun of him! The castleship is too quiet without him." 

   _Lance._

"..."

 Lance deflated into his chair, and rubbed his temples. 

 "I honestly don't know what to feel anymore. You know, back at Galaxy Garrison when Keith flunked out, I felt happy. Iverson told me I was promoted to fighter class. But when Keith left to become a freaking Marmorite, I feel... annoyed. I understand he has important Marmorite heritage-related stuff to do, which is totally fine and I get it because I miss my family too. But I'm still a little bit mad at him for leaving Voltron," Lance ranted. 

  _You miss him,_ Red insisted, almost sounded triumphant. 

 Lance hugged his knees to his chest and sighed in defeat, "Fine. You win. I miss Keith. And I'm worried about him. Are the Marmorites even treating him right? Is he even eating well? Hell, do Marmorites even eat?! Don't tell me they eat Quintessence for lunch?!"

 Red didn't respond. 

 "I know I'm supposed to hate Keith because he's my rival and stuff, but you know what, I guess I don't really hate him. I don't know if Keith has ever talked to you about hating my guts and stuff-"

  _No. Never._

Lance blinked, "Really? I was an asshole to him, even though he wasn't much better back at the Garrison, that standoffish jerk." 

  _Garrison?_

"Ah, it's kind of stupid actually..." Lance scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. "I don't really want to talk about it now."

  _That's okay._

Now that the cat was out of the bag and the initial embarrassment was over, Lance realised he really, really missed Keith. There were so many things he'd like to tell him, and he was actually coping by complaining to Red. 

 The last time he wanted to talk to someone so badly, it was when they found Shiro and had one Paladin too many... 

 And he had gone directly to Keith. 

 Keith might be hot-headed and emo, but he listened to people, well, mostly Lance, when they were not bickering or chasing Lotor's ship. Lance had expected him to laugh right in his face and tell him to leave the team, but Keith didn't. He listened and reassured him. 

  _Lance, do you like being the Red Paladin?_

 "Of course! I love being the Red Paladin..." Lance shifted his weight. "But no offence to Shiro, whether he's the real Shiro or not, it isn't quite the same being his right hand. I enjoyed being the Red Paladin to Keith's Black Paladin. We work best together, heck, we are supposed to be a team! Everyone is working in teams, except for me. Hunk, Pidge and Matt are always holed up in a room inventing I-don't-know-what. Coran and Shiro are working on the castleship functions. Allura and Prince Space Draco Malfoy with Long Hair are working as a duo now. I'm the odd one out. I've always been the seventh wheel."

  _Don't be silly, you're not,_ Red protested.  _You are a rightful paladin of Voltron. Blue chose you. I also chose you._

 "They might be replacing me with Lotor some day," Lance laughed humourlessly. 

  _I won't let him come in,_ Red promised. 

 "Maybe I can go find Keith at the Marmora base and be the first non Galran to pass those trials," Lance joked. "I'm going to look so devastatingly  _dashing_ in that black suit." 

  _Ah._

"What?" 

  _It's nothing. I'm glad you told me all of this, Lance,_ Red rumbled mournfully.  _I had no idea you felt this way. I wonder if I could fix it._

"It's okay, Red, you don't need to do anything," Lance patted the control panels. "I'm glad there is someone else other than Kaltenecker that listens to me. I'm feeling a lot better now." 

  _Yeah, and... I think you should probably go to sleep now. It's going to be a loooooong day tomorrow._ Red let out a long roar, as if to imitate a yawn. 

 "Okay?" Lance frowned. He reached and pulled out the blue checkered quilt from the secret compartment. 

 He tucked himself into the cosiest corner of the cockpit and let sleep overtake him.

 He could worry about Lotor and Shiro tomorrow. 

 

 ***

 

 "Lance! LANCE!!! Can you hear me?! COME IN, LANCE!" 

 Lance jolted awake from his dream about flying squirrels and avocados (don't ask). The floor rumbled violently. He sat up groggily against the wall and spared a hazy glance at the window. 

 "Wait, WHAT?!" 

 Instead of the nondescript walls of the castleship hangar, the windows displayed blue tinted statistics and a brilliant dark tapestry of silver nebula. 

 In other words, he was in freaking space. 

 "Lance!" Allura yelled through the intercom. "Are you alright?" 

 "Allura!!! What's going on?!" Lance shouted back, his voice shrill. "Where am I?" 

 Hunk's voice rang out, "Lance! Did you fall asleep in Red again? This is very bad for your health, you need to-"

 "That's not the main point, Hunk! Answering Lance's question, you're obviously in space, if you can't tell from the stars already," Pidge's voice joined Hunk's. "You were missing at breakfast and we were so worried! Then Coran said that Red was also missing from his hangar so we put two and two together."

 "We're trying to find out where Red is taking you!" Hunk said earnestly. 

 "Don't worry, Lance!" Matt added. 

 "How am I supposed to not worry!" Lance tugged at the controls frantically. "None of my controls are working! Can you stop Red from moving?" 

 "Unfortunately Red has formed a barrier between the castleship and himself and he's on autopilot mode. Coran is still working on how to reverse it," Allura said apologetically. There was a loud crash from their side and someone was swearing fluently in Altean. 

 Lance took the time to bellow at his trusty Lion. "RED!!! What are you doing?! Are you trying to do the Kessel run or something?!" 

  _You said you want to talk to Keith, so I'm taking you directly to him,_ Red answered calmly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

 Lance froze. 

 No.

 No.

 NO. 

 This couldn't be happening right now. 

 This couldn't be real. 

 "RED!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Lance shrieked, his hands flying up to cover his face in abject horror. "ARE YOU SERIOUS? YOU CAN'T BE DOING THIS TO ME, BUDDY! IS THIS BECAUSE I SAID THAT YOU'RE NOT AS FAST AS THE MILLENNIUM FALCON LAST WEEK? I TAKE THAT ALL BACK BUDDY. YOU ARE THE FASTEST LION, OKAY? NOTHING IS FASTER THAN YOU. NOW LET'S GO HOME." 

 Unfortunately, Red was either holding a grudge against Lance's comment or being super serious, because right in front of them, in all its blue and purple swirling glory, were the two black holes.

 Home to the Blade of Marmora. And... Keith. 

 At the same time, Allura had also figured out where exactly Lance was heading towards, "Lance, it appears that the Red Lion is taking you to the Blade of Marmora main base. On autopilot." 

 Lane screamed. 

 "Woah woah woah wait a sec. Of all places in the world, why is Red taking him to the Blade of Marmora?" Pidge asked, confused. "I thought Red hates the Blade, I mean, he was blasting at them the last time he was there." 

 "That was because Keith was in danger, remember?" Hunk pointed out. "Red has a knack for sensing things like this." 

 "DO SOMETHING!!!" Lance yelled. 

 "I told you we're working on it!"  

 "Hunk, I told you to rewire this thing!" 

 Sometimes, he imagined seeing Keith face to face again. He even had a long speech written out in his mind if he needed an excuse to leave the castleship. But all of the imagining and speculating did not prepare him for the horrific reality of being hurtled towards the Blade of Marmora base (uninvited) in a rogue Lion. 

 This wasn't what Lance had in mind at all. Not even close. 

 Worst of all, the high tech detectors in the base should have picked up Red's presence by now, and there was no turning back. 

 Right on the cue, he received a call from the destination he was heading towards. He cringed mightily at the thought of a full-length Galra lecture and accepted it. 

 Kolivan's face appeared on the screen, and he didn't look impressed at all. Maybe because he recognised this Lion as the very same one that nearly blasted his base apart and had it blacklisted or something. 

 "Red Paladin, what is the meaning of this?" Kolivan demanded sharply. "I understand that the Blade has forged a close alliance with the paladins of Voltron, but as far as I'm concerned, you are not invited to our base, nor are we expecting your presence. The base is a highly sacred place and is therefore not a space mall where you can come and go as you please-"

 "OH, OH MY GOD!!!" Lance cracked (he swore he saw Kolivan jump in surprise at his outburst). "Listen, I just woke up to find out that my Lion is out of control and I'm in space and I absolutely did NOT choose to fly here, okay? I don't even know the exact coordinates of your freaking base!!!" 

 Kolivan blinked, bemused, "The Red Lion is out of control?" 

 "Look, I'm pulling on all the controls and nothing is working!" To prove his point, he made a great show of flipping the switches, which of course, didn't do anything at all. 

 Kolivan asked stiffly, "So there's nothing you can do right now? Say, alter the Lion's route?"

 "Obviously not, duh! If I can do something about Red, I would have done so already!" Lance puffed up angrily. "Red is not listening to me!"

 It obviously wasn't wise to enrage one of their valuable allies (as stated in Coran's guide to diplomacies), but Lance was in no mood of being polite. 

 Allura's voice joined in, "I'm sorry, Kolivan, I'm sure Lance means no offence. I believe the Red Lion has a good reason for taking Lance to your base. We would be most grateful if you could allow him to board your base." 

 When Lance was so sure Kolivan was going to say no, the Blade warrior heaved a sigh, "Fine, as long as your Lion doesn't go berserk, you are granted permission to land. We will be sending someone to get you."

 The transmission ended with a tiny beep. 

 "No guarantees," Lance mumbled darkly, just as Red swerved to the right violently to avoid the asteroid belt. "Please be careful Red, now that we are here. I don't want to get sucked into the black hole. I'm not even in my armour."

  _I know my way around,_ Red sounded smug.  _Look, you're going to have to talk to Keith eventually. You might as well do it now and make things right._

 Lance sank deeper into his chair and did a face-palm. 

 As unexpected as the situation was, Red was right. 

 "But what if Keith doesn't want to see me?" He groaned. "Maybe he still thinks I'm a jerk." 

  _Lance, you two have gotten so much closer after you have become the red paladin. Everything has changed._

 "Okay, Red, I'm hoping you are correct, because if you are not, we are in a significant amount of trouble," Lance winced, as the dark, rocky structure came into view. "I can see the welcoming committee already." He picked up his helmet and bayard (he somehow had the foresight to bring them onto Red the night before), just in case things went south with Kolivan. He probably looked ridiculous wearing his helmet and casual wear at the same time, but it wasn't like he had a choice. 

 Red dropped down onto the ground and let him get off.

 "Any moment now..." Lance muttered. 

 A small part of the ground split open and three masked Blade members rose up slowly on a platform, the zig zag accents on their suits glowing dark purple. 

 Lance squared his shoulders and stared ahead of him determinedly. 

  _Here goes nothing._


	2. Approaching

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've decided to add one more chapter at the end? 
> 
> In which Keith pines, Lance manages to annoy half of BoM and they talk.

 "You knew Krolia is my mother, didn't you?" Keith accused, trailing after Kolivan as they moved down the corridors of the base.

 Most of the Blade members had been relocated from distant outposts back to the main base to prepare for a massive strike. 

 Kolivan tilted his head slightly, "Yes. I can recognise her from the blade you carry. Each and every blade has a specific design. But would it have made a difference if I told you?"

 Kolivan had a special talent in making Keith feel like a child all over again. Well, in Galra years, he  _was_ technically a child. 

  _Of course!_ _Then I wouldn't have needed to leave Voltron,_ Keith wanted to shout. 

 He felt so cheated. He had joined the Blade for the sake of finding out more about his mother and heritage, and bam, it turned out Kolivan had known who his mother was all along. 

 When he had finally connected the dots to Krolia's identity, he was too exhausted to go full Luke Skywalker mode on her, but he was so darn close to exploding. 

 A noncommittal 'Oh' was the only thing he managed to say after what seemed like years, because he knew if he talked too much, all those years of bitterness and resentment would spiral out of control.

  _Where have you been for the past fifteen years and when I needed you the most? Why did you leave me? Do you not love me as a son at all?_ His mind screamed the entire time. 

 The next thing he knew, they had parted ways on the neutral planet without so much of a goodbye and he was on his way back to the base on a stolen ship, feeling far worse than he had ever been his entire life. Maybe close to the time when he was denied information about the Kerebros mission, only there weren't any Iversons for him to swing a punch at this time. 

 Kolivan observed him, and said, "What are you going to do now after learning about this new information? Return to Team Voltron?" 

 Keith laughed harshly, "As if they'll take me back." 

 That was exactly what he was worried about. If he returned to Voltron, there would be six paladins again. He couldn't bear to have anyone kicked off the team just to make way for him. 

 Besides, the team seemed to be doing very well without him.

 From the regular joint meetings, he learnt that Pidge had found both Matt and her dad. The Voltron coalition was going strong.  _Emperor_ Lotor was working with them now, and even though Keith wasn't exactly fond of the guy, he had to acknowledge the fact that Lotor was the major reason he was still alive right now. 

 He had no idea the Blade of Marmora would have a  _television_ in the mess hall, albeit having bad audio. It broadcasted most of the Voltron shows (IN PURPLE GALRAN SUBTITLES) during mealtimes. While the other Blade members were mostly goggling at the screen in abject horror, obviously thinking something alone the lines of 'These are our allies? They look more like knuckleheads to me', Keith had a fun time watching his former teammates perform, even if the script (at least the discernible part) sounded shoddy. 

~~(The Loverboy Lance part had him shook.)~~

 They might be knuckleheads. But they were knuckleheads that were extraordinarily good at fighting and Keith respected them for that.

 He had long come up with the conclusion that team would most likely be okay if he never came back. Voltron didn't need him anymore. He repeated this mantra in his head like a disc player on a loop when he decided to push the thrusters forward at Naxzela. 

 He was there on Kral Zera, watching them form Voltron with a lump in his throat. Lance was flying Red with such proficiency right now, barrel-rolling past laser beams like he was born to fly and taking down dozens of Galra fighters within seconds. He had come so far. 

 Speaking of Lance... Keith never thought the day would come for him to miss Lance and his stupid jokes. It was almost like complaining about the sunshine only to miss it when it started to rain. 

 The Blade of Marmora was nothing like Voltron. The Blades never interacted with each other apart from mission briefings and had their masks activated at all times. 

 He'd trade anything for Lance's presence right now.

 "We'll talk about this later. You are allowed to go back to your room, Keith. We'll call you when there's another mission," Kolivan decided.

  _Yeah, yeah, back to my room to sulk,_ Keith thought, and before he could turn his back, the overhead alarms blared and the base rumbled. 

 He tensed and kept a hand on his blade. An intruder? No way, the Galra Empire couldn't have found the top secret base so easily. With smaller scale wars breaking out all over the galaxy, he wasn't even sure they had time to find them. 

 Almost instantly, a Blade member materialised in front of Kolivan, "Sir, a ship is approaching our base at high speed."

 "Show me footage," Kolivan hurried to the war room to have a good look at who the approaching intruder was, with Keith hot on his heels. 

 A video screen lit up with the purple symbol of the Blade of Marmora, and changed into a map. Sure enough, a small red dot was moving rapidly towards the base. 

 "Our sensors have confirmed it's the Red Lion," One of the Blade members said, reading from the minuscule numbers on the bottom right corner of the screen. "It will be arriving in roughly five dobashes." 

 Keith blanched. 

 What. On. Earth.

 Kolivan punched a few buttons on a panel, his expression unreadable. Then, Lance's face took up most of the screen. 

 Keith felt like the air was knocked out of him. 

 Lance's glass blue eyes were wide with shock, and he wasn't even dressed in his armour. His disheveled state didn't make it seem like he was coming over for an official mission at all. 

 Kolivan boomed, highly disgruntled, "Red Paladin, what is the meaning of this? I understand that the Blade has forged a close alliance with the paladins of Voltron, but as far as I'm concerned, you are not invited to our base, nor are we expecting your presence. The base is a highly sacred place and is therefore not a space mall where you can come and go as you please-"

 "OH, OH MY GOD!!!" Lance stared to flip out, not the slightest intimidated by Kolivan. All the Blade members jumped in surprise, including Keith. Blade members weren't supposed to be surprised at anything. They were always well prepared and alert. 

  Lance wagged his finger at the screen, "Listen, I just woke up to find out that my Lion is out of control and I'm in space and I absolutely did NOT choose to fly here, okay? I don't even know the exact coordinates of your freaking base!!!" 

 Red, out of control?Keith blinked. That was completely unheard of. Red was usually very well behaved and disciplined, which might come from his days as King Alfor's Lion. 

 Kolivan recovered from his stupor and asked, "The Red Lion is out of control?" 

 Lance said petulantly, "Look, I'm pulling on all the controls and nothing is working!" He started to rattle off an impossibly long list of things that weren't working, including the brakes, the thrusters etc etc etc. "Look at this, Mr. Space Mace Windu!"  

 "So there's nothing you can do right now? Say, alter the Lion's route?" Kolivan asked, once Lance was done with the rest of his list.  

 Lance's eyes widened in annoyance, "Obviously not, duh! If I can do something about Red, I would have done so already!"

 Several of the Blade members, normally silent, gasped disapprovingly behind their masks. 

 Keith resisted the urge to slap a hand over his face. No one in the Blade of Marmora would dare to speak to Kolivan with such impertinence. 

 Golden rule of the Blade of Marmora: Kolivan must be treated with utmost respect and should definitely not be referred to as a Star Wars character, if the movie existed there.  

 A new panel opened up above them, and Allura's face showed up. 

 "I'm sorry, Kolivan, I'm sure Lance means no offence," She said in a rush, while expertly maintaining the elegant grace of an Altean princess at the same time. " I believe the Red Lion has a good reason for taking Lance to your base. We would be most grateful if you could allow him to board your base." 

 Allura must have established a connection to Red too, because she casted a displeased look downwards, where Lance's face would be located on the castleship screen.

 Kolivan pondered for a moment, before agreeing reluctantly, "Fine, as long as your Lion doesn't go berserk, you are granted permission to land. We will be sending someone to get you." He pressed a button on the screen and ended the transmission.

 It was only when Lance and Allura's faces winked out of sight from the screen, Keith managed to grasp the reality. 

 Lance was coming here.

 Here, as in right here. 

 Now. 

 Keith.exe crashed. Red 'error' messages filled his mind.   

 "Sir, you can't be letting the Red Paladin in-" One of the Blade members protested. 

 Kolivan interrupted, "As the Princess has said, the Red Lion may have a good reason for taking the Red Paladin to our base. We just have to wait and see. Karec and Zyma, you will go up to fetch our guest." 

 "I'm going with them," Keith said quickly.

 Kolivan sighed, "Fine."

 Karec and Zyma bowed stiffly at their leader, and beckoned for Keith to follow them. He was halfway through the room when he suddenly thought,  _wait, what if Lance doesn't want to see me?_

Keith knew without a shadow of a doubt that Lance wasn't here for a friendly meet up.

 Their relationship had improved dramatically, and as much as Keith wanted to bond more with Lance (*cough* bonding moment *cough*), he had always assumed that Lance was being nicer to him only because it was crucial for the Red and Black Paladin to work together. Even with that, their friendship - Keith wasn't even sure if they fitted into the category of friends - was awkward at best. 

 He remembered how Lance had sought him out to talk about a certain problem and the sharp sting of disappointment he felt when Lance said that he came to talk to him _only_ because he was the leader. 

 Now that Keith wasn't the Black Paladin, what little connection they had was gone and there was simply no reason for Lance to be nice to him anymore. He wouldn't even be surprised if Lance went back to hating him with a fiery passion.  

 Keith genuinely wanted to be friends with Lance, but he got let down for more times than he could count and the only way he could cope was to play along with the rivalry thing that Lance was so determined to maintain.

 What surprised Keith was: It hurt. 

 He was by no means a stranger to rejection - he said so in one of the paladin vlogs Coran made on a whim. He never expected any of his friends (if he had any) to stick with him forever, just like his foster families and past classmates who treated him like an outcast. Except Shiro, who had always been there for him.  

  So why did it hurt so badly when Lance rejected him? 

 "Well, what are you waiting for, Keith?" Kolivan snapped, his patience wearing thin. "Run along. Our guest is waiting." 

 "Come on, young one," Zyma said, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. She was one of the nicer Blade members who showed him around the base on his first day and didn't mind it when he showed any weakness. 

 He activated his mask and followed her to the platform which would take him all the way to the upper surface of the base. They rose up slowly, and Keith was trying to speculate why exactly Lance was coming with a churning feeling in his gut. 

 Maybe Matt had told them about the stunt he had pulled on Naxzela and Red had delegated Lance to check up on him - not that Lance would actually care.

 The ceiling split open and the blue lights shone on them. Oh. He could see him already. 

 Lance was sheltered protectively under Red, the cold and unmoving Lion casting an oddly menacing shadow over him. Keith's mental bond with Red was faint, existing only as a dull reminder of how close they used to be. If he concentrated hard enough, he could still hear the roar of a lion at the back of his mind. 

 Keith never did ask Lance how Red truly felt about the whole Lion changing arrangement. 

 Lance was wearing his helmet over his casual clothes, his oversized jacket whipping in the hot wind. He made eye contact with them, and edged his way towards them with the careful gait of a trained soldier. 

 The moment Lance stepped onto the platform, he squinted at them, "Jeez, I wasn't expecting only  _three_ of you. Where's the rest of the welcoming committee and the music?" 

 "We were sent here to fetch you, Red Paladin," Karec said, clearly ignoring his statement.

 "Unfortunately we don't have any music here," Nyma said. 

 Lance turned to Keith and sized him up. 

 When Keith was starting to wonder whether Lance was able to recognise him behind the mask, Lance's hard expression morphed into a cheeky grin, "Hey, aren't you a little short for a Marmorite?" 

 It took all the willpower in Keith's body not to smack Lance upside the head, which was what he usually did when the other boy insulted his height.

 He just stood there with his arms crossed, not responding. 

 "Okay, whatever, you probably don't know where the reference came from. Such a shame," Lance shrugged nonchalantly. "Go on and lead the way."

 Oh great, Lance really didn't recognise him. 

 As they descended into the lower levels, Lance kept squinting around him in distaste. "They say prolonged exposure to _neon_ purple lights is bad for your eyes. Is everything in here purple? Who chose the decor? Gotta admit Alteans have a better style." 

 That was... Actually a good question. Keith had always wondered who decided it was a good idea to have everything in either black or purple. 

 They marched Lance off to the war room, where Kolivan was reading some war reports. The rest of the Blade members had departed for their various missions and training activities. 

 "Sir, we've brought the Red Paladin," Karec said, his normally emotionless tone tinged with mild annoyance. 

 Kolivan gazed down upon Lance coolly, "So, I believe you owe us an explanation of why you are here, Red Paladin. If you don't have a good reason, we're sending you back immediately." 

 "Firstly, my name is Lance, not Red Paladin," Lance snapped his fingers, and a muscle twitched in Kolivan's cheek. 

 Keith winced. He wouldn't be surprised if Lance managed to anger everyone on the base within minutes of his arrival. 

 "Secondly, I'm here to talk to Keith. I'd very much appreciate it if we can talk alone." 

  Keith.exe crashed for the second time on the same day, Lance's words reverberating in his ears. A balloon of warmth was starting to expand in his chest and he was grateful that he had his mask activated, because he was currently sporting the biggest, goofiest grin in Galran and Altean history. 

  Kolivan's eyes flitted over to Keith briefly, and he said, "I thought you said your Lion was out of control _and_  you didn't want to be here."

 "Yup, I wasn't  _planning_ to be here, but I guess Red wants me to spit the things out, so... here I am," Lance gestured around him impressively. 

 "Keith is now a member of the Blade, and you do not just come in and seek out our members," Kolivan said flatly. "You can ask the Princess to arrange for a conference call with us - that is the correct protocol."

 "Oh, I told Red this would happen," Lance pinched the bridge of his nose. "Hey, Keith is a person, and you don't decide whoever he can talk to. What I'm telling him is top secret and intended _only_ for Keith. It's related to Team Voltron."

  _Ah knew it, of course Lance isn't here to have a friendly chat with you, idiot,_ he chided himself, feeling the disappointment bubble up, only to be replaced by worry.

 What could possibly have happened? 

 Kolivan frowned, "Are you certain?" 

 "Yes," Lance answered boldly, his eyebrows raised as if daring Kolivan to refuse. 

 After what seemed like a long staring battle, Kolivan said with finality, "Permission granted." 

 "Cool, thanks!" Lance beamed, his attitude taking a complete turn. "Um, so where is Keith? Has he not returned from a mission yet? I don't mind waiting here, even though the purple lights are a little tacky-" 

 Keith deactivated his mask, enjoying Lance's look of utter bewilderment for a few hot seconds. "I'm here."

 Lance's mouth opened and closed like a fish. He then turned around, a hand over his eyes and shouted dramatically, "Oh quiznak, I should have known! How many Galrans I know are  _that_ short?" 

 "That's the first thing you're saying?!" Keith exclaimed, scandalised. 

 "Obviously! Because you're short!" Lance snarked, turning back to face him. 

 "Oh my god Lance I'm only shorter than you by half an inch! I've grown taller!" 

 "So you're admitting you're short!"

 "No I'm not!" 

 Kolivan cleared his throat, "Red Paladin, if you wish to talk to Keith, I suggest you not to waste any time and go ahead immediately. I'm giving you one and a half vargas, no more. That should be more than enough." 

 "Yes Sir," Keith said, bowing respectfully. 

 "Yes Master Windu," Lance muttered under his breath and did a mock salute at Kolivan with his best poker face. 

 Kolivan left the war room with a swish of his cloak, closely followed by Karec and Zyma, and they were left alone. 

 "Um, is there a place where we can talk in private?" Lance asked. "As in, alone? I would have suggested getting back to Red, but it isn't exactly a wise choice to fly the Red Lion around your _oh-so top secret_ base." 

 "Well there's my room," Keith said, still not quite believing Lance was actually here. 

 "That works. Lead the way, Mullet man."

 "IT'S NOT A MULLET." 

 

 ***

 

 Lance wasn't kidding when he said the Blades had a bad taste in decor. Literally everything was in an eye watering shade of neon purple and black. He should drop a memo into the Blades suggestion box if there happened to be one lying around. The place could do with some of Pidge's pretty fairy lights. 

 Keith took him down to the lower levels of the base, and they didn't bump into more of the emo Marmorite buddies, which was nice, because Lance had a feeling they didn't really like him.

 He keyed in an identification code onto a small panel next to a door, and the door slid open with a whoosh. The room lit up with (EVEN MORE) purple automatically.

 "Nice room," Lance remarked. 

 There was nothing in the room at all save for a sleek black datapad lying on the floor. The bed didn't even look like it had been slept in much. 

 Keith eyed him irritatedly, and sat down on the bed, patting a spot to his right. Lance took a seat, and they descended into awkward silence. He fidgeted with his helmet, snapping the visor up and down repeatedly. 

 "Um, hi," Lance tried lamely, unsure how to kickstart the conversation.  He rarely had a proper, peaceful conversation with Keith because the two of them were almost only capable of bickering with each other. Conversations through the intercoms of their Lions during battles didn't count.

 "So..." Keith crossed his arms. "Care to tell why exactly Red brought you here?" 

 Lance had been practicing how to break the news to Keith, but all the things flew out of the window when he said bluntly, "I think there's something wrong with Shiro." 

 Keith frowned and Lance started to ramble, "I don't know if I'm correct about it, and I don't want to make it sound like I'm badmouthing Shiro because I know how close you are to him and I really respect that guy too - that guy's my idol, but it's just I really don't know what I should do and whether I'm right about him or I'm just paranoid like how Pidge and Hunk think-"

 "Woah woah woah, slow down, and be careful with your helmet. You won't be able to get a replacement," Keith seized Lance's helmet before he could break off the visor. "It's okay, I'm not offended. But... what do you mean? What's wrong with Shiro? Is he having trouble with Black... Or is he injured?" 

 Lance winced, knowing well that Keith would go into freak mode, "That's not _quite_ the problem he's having... He's been acting weird recently, he was yelling at us-"

 "Lance, what do you mean by us? Who is he yelling at?" Keith paled. Shiro never yelled. Unlike Iverson and most other instructors at the Garrison (and also Keith), he had always believed that angry yelling wasn't the best solution to problems.

  _Patience yields focus_ , Shiro reminded, whenever Keith was getting upset about something. 

 "Um, Allura, and me and-"

 "He yelled at you?"

 And Keith thought HE was the bad-tempered one in the group. 

 "I said I don't know if that's supposed to be weird!" Lance panicked, automatically assuming Keith was getting mad at him. "Maybe I was really being a jerk and Shiro was yelling at me for a good reason-" 

 Maybe he really was wrong about Shiro. 

 "Lance."

 "You know Pidge is right, I act like a goofball sometimes-"

 "Lance!" Keith growled, effectively stopping his words at his throat. "I'm being very serious. Elaborate." 

 Lance found himself spilling out all the weird Shiro moments he could think of, including the time he shouted at him before Olkari, the strange astral plane thing he was transported to and the 'oxygen problem' during the Oriande thing, while folding the hem of his jacket nervously. It was common knowledge that Keith was extremely close to Shiro. He really didn't want Keith to get the wrong impression that he was antagonising Shiro or anything.

 When he was done (and bracing for the worst case scenario), Keith stared at Lance, his eyes were as dark as violets under the neon lights. "You're right, that doesn't sound like the Shiro I know. I've also been thinking he hasn't been quite the same since we lost him." 

 Lance exhaled a sigh of relief, "Thank god. Red is right. You trust me." 

 "What? Of course I trust you," Keith said, confused. "Don't tell me the others don't notice anything."

 "Allura thinks he's being difficult," Lance said, worrying his lip between his teeth. "But she never did have the time to figure Shiro out with Lotor and the white lion and everything. And as for everyone else... They're just too busy to care...? Do you reckon Haggar is behind this?" 

 Keith gaped in disbelief, "Your leader is being weird, and you don't do something about it?" 

 "This is why I'm here. You know Shiro the best out of all of us and you should know what to do! We need you." 

 "You don't need me."

 "Did you just hear what I just said or were you daydreaming?!"

 "What do you think I'm going to do?!" Keith said exasperatedly. "I'm gonna waltz onto the castleship and ask Shiro to chill?" 

 "Yeah?" Lance said, confused. "The  _Shiro chill_ thing, if you think it'll work." 

 "Of course not! It won't be that simple." 

 "We can figure out what to do later! You just need to come back." 

 "Lance," Keith murmured softly. "I'm no longer on the team. I can't come back." 

 "What?" Lance said incredulously. "What are you talking about, Keith? Just because you left doesn't mean you're permanently out of the team. I can talk to Allura and Coran, I'm sure they will take you back."  

 "Don't you get it, Lance?" Keith stood up abruptly, agitated. " If I come back, everything will be messed up - like you said, there are six paladins and only five Lions. The Black Lion has accepted Shiro again, and I can't take that away from him. I can't take Red either, as you're working so well with him."

 "Keith-"

 Keith placed a hand on Lance's shoulder and said sincerely, "I was there on Kral Zera - I saw you fly. The Red Lion chose you as his paladin and he was right about this."  

 Lance barked out a laugh. Keith frowned, definitely not expecting such a reaction. 

 "Ha! Are you kidding me?!" His manic grin turned into indignation. "Did you even hear me?  _Everything_ is freaking wrong with the team, and by everything, I really do mean everything. Within the first few weeks, Coran got infected by this strange alien bug thing and he got all crazy with TV personalities-"

 "You mean Loverboy Lance?" Keith snorted. 

 "Yeah, that. I make one hot loverboy," Lance said, patting his chest with satisfaction. 

 Keith snorted, "Yeah, right." 

 "How dare you, you know I'm hot," Lance flushed (he did NOT just say that to Keith). "Anyways we didn't find out until he lured this gigantic monster into the performance. Pidge thought it was just well generated graphics the entire time. Wow, you watched it? I'm so flattered, man. The base must have dazzled with my charm on screen." 

 "Oh, that's why the script was so awful. Speaking of which, who was Allura actually playing? I wasn't able to tell."

 Lance winked, "Funny you'd ask. She was playing you. Introducing, moody, lone wolf Keith. And I will tell Coran you said that." 

 Keith growled, almost the same way Allura did when Coran forced her to play this emo persona. 

 "Anyways, Bii-boh-bi fixed Coran. Next point, we're making a deal with Lotor - the devil himself, and we don't even know whether he's a good guy or not. I'm not going to be surprised if our new team chant is going to be  _vrepit sa._  Haggar and his ex-Generals are still on the run... I hate how we're kept in the dark. Whew, that roughly summarises everything that's wrong. Need I say more?"

 "The team is still better off without me," Keith said weakly, slumping down and tugging his hood over his choppy bangs. 

 At this point, Lance really wanted to face-palm, no, face-wall himself. Why couldn't Keith see his worth on the team? 

  _How can I convince him to come back to us..._

 "Okay, I'm going to say this out as bluntly as I can and I'm probably going to regret this later, but since you have elected to be even more stubborn than Kaltenecker on her bad days, I have no other choice," Lance said stonily. "When you left, I wasn't happy. That's an understatement too. It isn't the same without you on the team. I really mean it. You're one of the best pilot and leader we've ever had, no offence to Shiro. And you know what, when I said I hate you, I really don't, but I'm not going into that now." 

 "Lance," Keith breathed, finally meeting Lance's gaze. 

 He continued, ignoring the fact that his cheeks were starting to heat up from the embarrassment, "We're supposed to be a team. Lance and Keith, Red and Blue. You are the only one who listens to me, heck, no one listens to me anymore. I'm practically useless on the team. If you don't come back, I don't see the point in being the Red Paladin anymore. I might as well take the Marmorite trials, perhaps I'll be more useful here."

 "You have to have Galra blood to finish the trials," Keith managed to say. 

 "That's exactly why you need to come back! I - W-we all miss you!" Lance blurted out the last bit with difficulty, his face red like the setting sun. 

 The colour of Keith's face almost rivalled Lance's, and said hesitantly, "But we only have five Lions..."

 "Look, there's a solution to it, and it doesn't involve math at all," Lance snapped. "We can co-pilot Red until we figure out what to do."

 "Co-pilot...?" 

 "Pidge built a co-pilot seat in the Green Lion, so Matt can activate the cloaking device and do other cool technical stuff when she's flying. I can just ask her to build another one on Red, it will be an easy fix," Lance said, now drumming his fingers on the sides of his helmet. "I don't care if you do most of the flying, or... if you don't mind, we can take turns." 

 Keith's jaw dropped, "Pidge built a co-pilot seat? And Matt is flying with her now?"

 "Yeah!" Lance nodded keenly. "He once sat in when we formed Voltron. Pidge doesn't have to multitask anymore now that another brainiac is helping her and it's less taxing. I'll have to keep the bayard though, because... I don't have any other weapon?"

 "Sure, you can keep it. I have my blade. Yeah, that works," Keith said, more to himself than to Lance.     

 Happiness bloomed in Lance's chest, "So you're coming back...?" 

 "If you'll have me," Keith smiled tremulously. "But I can't come back this instant, because I might still have some smaller missions to finish and I need to tell Kolivan, oomph-"

 Without thinking, Lance had thrown his arms around the other boy, smothering him in a big hug. He released Keith after a few seconds, and panicked, "Whoops, personal space. I forgot hugs aren't your thing." 

 "Who said I didn't like hugs?" Keith said, flustered. 

 "Uh," Lance said. "You're Mr. Grumpy?" 

 "SHUT UP I'M NOT MR. GRUMPY."

 "That's an invalid argument because you're showing your grumpiness right now, Mr. Grumpy." 

 "Ugh, I'm so done with you," Keith scowled. 

 Lance wiggled his eyebrows, "Nuh-uh, you're stuck with me, Samurai." 

 Keith rolled his eyes. "So we have roughly a varga left. What are we going to do now?"

 "We talk more, duh? I'm not planning to leave early," Lance said. "I've told you everything about me. It's your turn to tell me what you've been doing. I want to hear all about your space Jedi adventures."  

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god I'M SO EXCITED AND SCARED FOR SEASON 6!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!! 
> 
> I'M HAVING MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT THE TRAILER!!! WHERE WAS THE SOFT REUNION SCENE WE WANTED D: But I don't think that's the ACTUAL reunion scene though? Lance's lines seemed out of place and it didn't match with his facial expression at all. I wouldn't be surprised if this scene was put together to throw us off.
> 
> And I saw a tumblr post saying this is the season that will either make or break Klance and I agree :/ Let's hope we're going to get some Klance development.......


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Season 6. 
> 
> Uh. 
> 
> I wrote most of this before S6 dropped, but you can see this fic as a S6 fix-it now :D

 Talking about his missions wasn't easy, with all the protocols Kolivan had imposed upon them. Blades weren't allowed to discuss the details of their missions with anyone other than their fellow operatives or superiors. 

 In the end, he fed Lance bits of the watered-down versions of missions, still, Lance seemed a little bit spooked out by all the stuff they did.

 Over the past 15 minutes, they had settled by resting their backs against the wall and having their feet dangle over the side of the bed. 

 "Wow jeez, you guys get all the tough stuff," Lance smiled, and Keith's heart did a somersault. 

 This was one of Lance's rarer smiles, Keith noted. Lance smiled often enough, but most of them weren't exactly genuine. The usual ones were the flirty ones and the sarcastic smirking type which Keith was frequently on the receiving end of.  

 But  _this_ one reminded Keith of the soft smile Lance gave him when he said, "We did it. We are a good team." It felt like the summer sun, not scorching, but warm and pleasant. 

 (And nope, just because Lance had forgotten about The Bonding Moment didn't mean Keith would ever forget about it.)

 "You were on Kral Zera, right? Prince I-Have-Awesome-Hair told us you saved him," Lance didn't sound all too happy about it.

 "Huh, what?" Keith was caught off guard. "Prince who?!" 

 "Lotor, duh, who else pretends he has awesome hair?" Lance pretended to flip non-existent long hair over his shoulder, like one of those shampoo commercials Keith used to see all the time on television. 

 "I'm guessing you don't like him much," Keith remarked.

 Lance wrinkled his nose, "Of course! I don't like him. There's something dodgy going on with him." 

 "Is it because he's always with Allura?" Keith asked, a squirming feeling twisting inside his chest. That wasn't an unfamiliar feeling - he always felt like this whenever he spotted Lance flirting with someone. 

 His mind chided,  _you feel annoyed, because whenever Lance flirts, he gets distracted from the mission, which is supposed to be the most important thing. You are just pissed that he's goofing around and not doing his job._

That sounded highly justifiable, and Keith went with it.

  ~~( _Jealousy, thy name is Keith_ , Lance once said.) ~~

  To his surprise, Lance frowned mightily, "Nonononono. No. Just, no. Why do all of you people assume I hate Prince L'Oreal ad solely because he  _spends time_ with Allura? Like, how? What have I done?" 

  "Um, because you talk about how much you like Allura and want to date her? Like... All the time? So it's hard _not_ to come to _that_ conclusion," Keith offered, and the words came out harsher than he had intended.

  Lance said daintily, "I've recently come to terms that... Allura is  _waaaaaa_ _y_ out of my league. So no, we're not like that."

 "Oh," Keith said, feeling oddly satisfied. Keith from one year ago would never imagine that Lance could go a single day without making pickup lines at Allura. 

 "Allura and I are now training buddies," Lance said. "Even though she beats me most of the time."

 "Wait a sec. You  _train_?!" Keith goggled at him. 

 "Yeah?" Lance raised an eyebrow.

 One-Year-Ago-Keith also wouldn't be able to see this coming. The very same guy, who often made excuses to skip training, was actually training. 

 How much had Lance changed? Frankly, someone could tell him that Lance could suddenly sword fight and Keith wouldn't be surprised. 

 (Seriously though, Lance getting a sword would be amazing even though Keith knew it would never happen - where would he even get one?) 

 "Oh right, you don't know it," Lance smirked. 

 "Know what?!" 

 Lance crossed his arms stubbornly, "Nope, not telling you. You will know eventually, when you get back. But be prepared to be  _amazed_." 

 "Oookay?" Keith said. 

 Suddenly, Lance's smile faltered, "Wait. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy you're coming back to us, but what about your family? I know you joined the Marmorites because you want to learn more about your Galran side and I totally understand this, but if you come back, you won't be able-"

 "That's okay," Keith grimaced. He had been hoping this wouldn't come up. 

 "That's NOT okay!" Lance fretted. "Oh god, I'm sorry, Keith, I know how important your family is to you."

 "Lance, shut up for a sec," Keith said. "I found my mother."

 "Great, I messed up- wait," Lance paused abruptly and stared at Keith, "You found your WHAT?!" 

 "My mother," Keith repeated wearily. 

 "Oh my gosh," Lance said excitedly. "What's her name?!" 

 "Her name is Krolia."

 "COOL. IS SHE PURPLE? DOES SHE HAVE A MULLET? DOES SHE LOOK LIKE YOU? IS SHE A BADASS?"

 "Lance," Keith said sharply. 

 Lance's eyes widened, sensing how uncomfortable Keith felt, "Sorry, Keith. But... Wow, you found your mom and that's so cool! Isn't that what you wanted all this time? Wait. Don't tell me you went  _NOOOOO THAT'S NOT TRUE THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE_ on her." 

 "No," Keith whispered. "I froze up when I saw her. I know I should be happy, but I'm not. I'm mad."

 "So... Are you telling me you didn't say anything to her?" Lance watched him closely. 

 "I..." Keith furrowed his eyebrows, struggling to muster out the right words. "Left...? We... Parted ways?" 

 Lance gawked at him, "What?! You just left her? Dude, you could have let her explain!" 

 "You don't understand!!!" Keith growled. "You don't understand how I feel right now - what it is like for your mom to show up all of a sudden! Where has she been all this time?! Couldn't she have visited me once, huh? She's the reason why I've been tossed from one foster home to another and she's exactly why I have trouble trusting anyone!" 

 Lance held up his hands to appease him, "Calm the heck down, man! I'm sorry to hear about this, and I'm probably not the best person to talk to about this type of things, but I know that your mom probably has a good reason for leaving you."

 "Right." Keith glowered at him.

 "Okay, okay, don't look at me like that, jeez! Maybe your mom is wrong for leaving you, but you will have to give her a chance to, I don't know, explain herself and make up for it? Who knows, she might turn out to be a Darth Vader, or ooh, she might be How To Train Your Dragon's Valka! That works," Lance snapped his fingers. 

 "Dragons," The word was unfamiliar on Keith's tongue. When was the last time he read fairy tales? 

 "How To Train Your Dragon 2. The film. Dreamworks. You haven't seen it?! It's a gorgeous film! How could you?!" Lance yelped, outraged. 

 "Cartoons are not my thing," Keith said warily. 

 "Okay. I'm trying not to spoil the good bits.There's this Viking village and they're mortal enemies with dragons-"

 "Dragon stories." 

 "It's a Viking story, Keith! Shush!" Lance cried.

 "Sorry," Keith said meekly. 

 "It turns out dragons are not as evil as the Vikings think, yada yada yada. So the main character is a guy called Hiccup and he's the son of the Chief. His mother is thought to be killed by dragons when he was a baby, but boom, it turns out she's actually gone off to _live_ with the dragons because she knows there's good in them and can't bring herself to fight them," Lance said animatedly. "Hiccup is considered to be the runt of the tribe and he's basically shunted by everyone. After much difficulty, he befriends a Night Fury dragon and unites the dragons and Vikings." 

 Keith nodded along. 

 His mind provided unhelpfully,  _he's so adorable when he rants about TV shows. Look at the way his eyes light up._

 _Shut up,_ he told himself. 

 "Fast forward to 19 years later, Hiccup reunites with his mom, and since he understands that she has a good reason for not living with the Vikings, he's cool with it. He becomes the Chief and then... The third movie hasn't come out yet, so I don't know what happens next. I hope we'll be back to Earth before it premiers, ha."

 Even though Keith knew Lance's point of bringing up this entire story, he gave him a sour look, "What are you implying?" 

 "You really need to talk to your mom. Stat. Whether she has a good reason for leaving... or whether she's actually a terrible mom, which I honestly think she isn't, you have to talk to her to know for sure," Lance said softly. "There's a solid chance she has tried to come back for you but she didn't succeed. Really, I'm not surprised if that's the case, with Zarkon running around. She can't risk bringing more Galra to Earth." 

 "I..." Keith bit his lip. "I don't know how. I'm terrible at this." 

 "Tell her how you feel, and try not to yell too much. Ya know, you always shout or grab your bayard when you get too worked up over something," Lance suggested, expertly dodging Keith's attempt of a smack to his head. "Hey! You know it's true. If you think that she is good after all, accept her. Or... I can go with you and see if she's worthy of my stamp of approval." 

 "I don't think that's a good idea," Keith shuddered, having a mental image of Lance talking to Krolia. It would be a nightmare. 

 "What?! I get along well with everyone!" Lance sounded highly offended. 

 "Right, so apparently you get along with everyone except for me," Keith pursed his lips resentfully, pissed at the fact that Lance got along well with literally everyone except for him.

 When he said that he couldn't remember Lance back at the Garrison, it was a downright lie, and not to mention, a really weak one too. 

 It was impossible for someone to not notice Lance. He was a social butterfly, and could make friends wherever he went. 

 Keith only shared two classes with Lance, and from that, he could tell Lance was the fun type of guy, loud and expressive. Lance was good at opening up to people, whereas Keith shut people out like a clam. In other words, Lance was everything Keith Kogane wasn't - funny, witty and sociable. 

 It had been barely two weeks since the first official school day at the Garrison, Keith had gotten himself suspended from fighting with another classmate and Lance seemed to have decided that he disliked Keith and always gave him dirty looks whenever he passed by him in the classroom. 

 At this, Lance bristled, "Well, that's because _you_  were a super rude jerk? 

 Keith blinked.

"Ugh you probably won't remember this if you can't even remember who I am."

 What? 

 

 

 ***  

_Garrison, First Year_

 

 Everyone was leaning out of the classroom doorways, clamouring and shoving at each other to get a better view of the corridor. 

 Keith was too busy whacking at the boy on the ground to care about them.

 It was sort of a blur. The kid was jeering about how Keith was 'an unwanted kid', and the next thing he knew, he had lunged for him. 

 "Someone get Commander Iverson!" One of the girls shrieked fearfully, hiding from behind her classmate. "Or Mr. Shirogane!" 

 Mr. Shirogane, or known as Shiro, was Keith's homeroom instructor, and he was the one who recommended Keith's application to the Garrison.  

 Shiro had always said he had high hopes for Keith. Shame he was probably going to get suspended after this. 

 The students started to quiet down when thumping footsteps approached the fighting pair, and everyone watched with the scene unfold with bated breaths. 

 "Mr. Kogane!" The astrophysics instructor, Ms Kendricks seized him by his arm. "Let Mr. Evans go and stop this childish fight!" 

 Keith tried to break free from her grasp, but the woman was stronger than he was. She kept hold of him and the other boy, and said coldly, "It is only the second day of school and you two are already fighting! This appalling behaviour is unbecoming for a Garrison student and I'm very disappointed with the both of you. Especially you, Mr. Kogane, you were here on Mr. Shirogane's recommendation, and I expected so much more from you." 

 The other boy complained, "Kogane started it!" 

 "Argh!" Keith jerked and tried to kick him in his shins. 

 "STOP!" Ms Kendricks's manicured fingernails dug into his shoulder painfully. "I don't care who started the fight first. You are both going to the principal's office!" She took note of the scratches on the other boy's face, and added sternly, "Before that, you're going to the infirmary, Mr. Evans." 

 Keith kept his head down the entire time, tears of rage gathering in his eyes and fists clenched even though his fingers were throbbing. He felt like he was submerged into the ocean, everything was like a haze and his ears were ringing. 

 "I will be taking Mr. Evans to the infirmary, and-" 

 There was a startled yelp, and from the corner of Keith's eye, he saw that Ms Kendricks had shoved a rather tall boy towards him. 

 "You will be escorting Mr. Kogane to the principal's office. Understood?"

 "O-okay," The tall boy stuttered nervously. 

 Afterwards, Ms Kendricks shooed away all the nosy students and made them return to their classrooms. She then left with Evans, who was probably still glaring at Keith over his shoulder. 

 "Um," The boy cleared his throat awkwardly. "Shall we get moving? Gee, you're scrawny, but you can pack one hell of a punch."

 He spoke with a faint accent which indicated that English wasn't his first language. 

 Keith ignored him, and started to move, all while keeping his eyes on the floor because he didn't want anyone to see him tearing up. He hated showing his weakness to anyone else. 

 "Oh, you're gonna stare at the ground the entire time? That's cool, as long as you don't bump into stuff," The boy said, "but I want you to know that I'm way more handsome than the tiles." 

  _What's wrong with him?!_

"So you're Shiro's protege? No wonder. I saw your flight simulations, you're a natural at it." 

  _I'm not a prodigy. I'm nobody._

"Being Takashi Shirogane's protege, how _awesome_ is that? Man, I'm so jealous of you. Shiro's like my hero. I've been looking up to him for years! I hope I can be like him someday." 

  _I'm nothing about Shiro's disappointment._

"Cheer up, man! Think about all the cool junk you can do at the Garrison! Things like flying into asteroid field and black holes..." He launched into a tirade of the entire Garrison's curriculum. 

_Shut up shut up shut up-_

 By then, Keith was almost jumping in rage. He was in no mood of being enthusiastic about things. 

 "SHUT UP!" Keith closed his eyes and yelled. "CAN YOU SHUT UP FOR A MOMENT?! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? JUST SHUT UP AND DON'T TALK TO ME AGAIN!!!" 

 There was a long, uncomfortable pause.

 The boy's voice turned as cold as ice, "Huh. I really wonder what Shiro sees in you." 

 They turned around the corner towards the corridor leading to the principal's office.

 He dropped Keith off at the secretary's desk and left without another word.

 Keith never saw his face. He couldn't even remember his voice. 

 In the end, he was suspended for one whole week by the principal. 

 Shiro kept checking up on him worriedly, as if he might run away from the Garrison and bringing in meals. Keith assured him he was fine and he wasn't going to quit anymore. 

 A week later, he showed up to class, his dirty uniform cleaned up already. He settled down at his seat with his history textbook, ignoring the curious and slightly fearful stares from his classmates. He had cooled down already - he couldn't afford to sit into the principal's office again.

 "Look who's here," Someone said sarcastically behind him. "The  _star_ himself." 

 Keith turned slowly. The voice had belonged to a boy with caramel coloured hair and ocean blue eyes, glaring at him with a rather disdainful expression.   

 "Sorry, do I know you?" Keith frowned. 

 The boy's eyes widened in annoyance, "Nice going with that attitude, Kogane. Yeah right, you're a genius and you got in here on Shiro's recommendations. But just because I'm a normal boy from Cuba doesn't mean that you can look down on me." 

 Keith was super confused. What on earth was he talking about? Have they talked to each other before?

 "The name's Lance," The boy pointed at himself with a scowl. "And I'm  _so_ going to beat you with my flight scores." 

  That was probably how the entire Lance slash Keith rivalry started, and Keith had no inkling of how it started in the first place.

 

 ***

 

 "That was YOU?!" Keith exclaimed. "How did you even get there?!"  

 "How am I supposed to know?! Ask Ms Kendricks," Lance said with righteous anger, and stared at Keith as if he had grown a second head, "Wait a tick. You didn't know it was me?"

 Keith shook his head, feeling much like an idiot. That explained why Lance hated him so much in the past.

 "HOW THE QUIZNAK IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!" Lance shouted, flinging himself sideways and flopped onto the bed. "IT WAS MY QUIZNAKING VOICE!!! HOW CAN YOU NOT NOTICE? SO WHO HAS A MEMORY THE SIZE OF A PAPER AIRPLANE NOW, HUH?" 

 "I had enough on my mind! I was questioning my place at the Garrison! Besides, you were being super annoying. You can't blame me for snapping," Keith said, still horribly mortified. 

 Lance groaned, "Yeah, I probably should have noticed how you were feeling before I ran my mouth. We were incredibly immature back then, who could blame us?" 

 "So that was why you hated me this whole time?" Keith asked tentatively. "Because I shouted at you?" 

 Lance mumbled, "Gosh. I didn't hate you - I was jealous of you."

 "Me?" Keith squinted at him. 

 Lance rolled onto his back, "You were super cool. You managed to nail a complicated flight simulation on your first try when everyone was just flopping around with the controls. You obviously _are_ an academic genius to get into the Garrison and to be noticed by The Takashi Shirogane at the age of 14 years old. I wanted to be friends with you, because I was expecting you to be like Shiro, cool and charismatic. And _tada_ , turns out The Keith Kogane is actually an emo kid who yells a lot and treats everyone like dirt."

 "I have always been afraid of being looked down upon and being the third kid in a gigantic family doesn't help much. I had to fight for people's attention. I wasn't as smart as my older brother and I definitely wasn't as adorable as my younger siblings. So naturally, I felt like you deserved to be knocked down a few pegs for being a nasty jerk," Lance finished. "And in a way, I was protecting myself from being bullied because I had the impression you hated me." 

 "Oh." Keith wondered if it was possible to get even more embarrassed.  

 Lance directed his voice towards the ceiling, "I'm still trying to grasp the reality. So we became rivals because of a huge misunderstanding... and because you were emo."

 " _And_ you ran your mouth too much at the worst timing," Keith said drily. "Can you believe that?"

 "We could have been friends," Lance said in a daze. "What the quiznak." 

 "I'm sorry."

 Lance flipped over, and slid back up against the wall, "Are we friends now, though? Yeah, we have to be friends. How else are we gonna be co-pilots if we are enemies? So are we putting our past behind and... chum it up?" 

  "I guess?" Keith said, his heart hammering against his chest. 

  Lance grinned and hugged him. Keith snuggled into the warmth of Lance's shoulder, and bathed in the scent of the ocean which Lance always carried around him, even though he hadn't been near one in ages.

 He could hold onto Lance for hours. 

 

 ***

 

 Keith took Lance back to the main room, before he returned on Red.

 Kolivan was hunched over a war diagram, with his back to them.

 Before Keith could say anything to him, Kolivan grunted, "Are you leaving?"

 "Huh, what?" 

 "I'm assuming you want to return to Team Voltron, and you are going to talk to me about it," Kolivan turned around to face them. He didn't seem perturbed by the idea at all.

 "How did you know?!" Lance said doubtingly, taking a karate stance.

 "Why else would you be here?" Kolivan said, sending Lance one of his more imposing deadpans. 

 "You're not going to stop me from going back?" Keith asked. 

 "Your work with the Blade of Marmora is done. Your real path is with Voltron and I'm willing to accept it," Kolivan said. "It has been my pleasure to work with you, young Keith." 

 "I won't be leaving yet. I want to talk to Krolia. Face to face," Keith said.

 Kolivan nodded with understanding, "She's currently stationed at one of our outposts, but I'll have it arranged before she departs for her next mission. Red Paladin, you can come and get Keith in 3 quintents."

 "No problem! Red knows the way," Lance said flippantly. "Or I can have Allura open a wormhole so I can get here faster."

 "You may leave now," Kolivan waved his hand, clearly dismissing him. 

 Lance did another mock salute, and he followed Keith to the creepy Marmorite elevator.

   

 ***

 

  _You're back._

Red's faint voice brushed the back of Keith's mind the moment they arrived at the surface of the asteroid.

 "Hiya, buddy. Keith, you wanna say hello to your Lion?" Lance gestured towards the towering Lion.

 "Hello Red," Keith said, staring up.

 He didn't know if Red thought he was worthy to be a paladin of Voltron again.

 He was expecting Red to reject him. 

 But Red lifted his head and roared loudly to the sky, strengthening their fragile bond until it blazed red hot, like how it had been when Keith first bonded with him. 

 The Red Lion was claiming him as the Red Paladin, once again.

  _Welcome back, Keith,_ Red roared again in Keith's mind, his voice stronger than ever.  _I hope Lance has... talked to you about his problems._

"Yes I did. Thank you, Red," Lance said. The Lion was probably speaking in his mind at the same time. 

  _No problem,_ Red chuckled.  _I was starting to get a little bit tired of your complaining._

"What?! Red! How could you!" Lance huffed. 

 "You complain to Red?" Keith asked. 

 "Don't judge! I used to talk to Blue all the time!"

  _Yeah, and Lance finally has a companion, so he doesn't have to feel lonely anymore._ Red paused and added as an afterthought,  _He misses you-_

"LA LA LA, RED THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH," Lance shouted, hoping that the volume of his voice could distract Keith from hearing the final bit. 

 "What was that all about?"

  _Oh?_ The Lion made an effort to tilt his head. _Ah. I understand now._

"What?!" Lance and Keith yelled at the same time. 

_Nothing. I'm glad you're coming back, Keith._

"I'm not going to come back immediately though, Red. You see, I've found my mom and I need to talk to her," Keith explained.

  _Understood. Lance and I will be getting you here, I assume?_

"Right you are!" Lance said, doing a happy little dance. 

  _Let's go then, Lance. The Princess has commed in, the castleship will be arriving shortly to pick you up._

Lance turned to Keith, "I guess I have to go now. See you soon?" 

 "Yeah. Thank you for coming to me, Lance," Keith said. "Without you... I really don't know how I'm going to cope."

 "No problem man, we are a good team. I said that, didn't I?" Lance winked. "See you in three quintents! Good luck with your mom and tell me about it when you get back." He gave Keith a quick, encouraging squeeze on the shoulder. 

 Keith watched as Lance boarded the ramp of the Lion, and Red took off with an energetic roar, into the blue. 

 

 ***

 

 "Hello Princess, thanks for picking me up," Lance accepted the transmission from the castleship.

 "So what happened at the base? Tell us!" Pidge elbowed at Hunk and moved into the view of the giant screen, with Matt following closely behind her. 

 "Did you piss Kolivan off?" Hunk added. 

 "Oh, a lot has happened," Lance stifled a laugh. "Guess what? Keith is coming back!" 

 The bridge descended into pandemonium, as everyone shrieked at the good news. Coran was actually sobbing and hugging an extremely dazed Matt. 

 Keith was wrong about them - everyone had missed him and would be more than willing to welcome him back to the team. 

 Lance clicked off the transmission with a smile and relaxed in his seat. 

 With Keith back on the team, everything would be fine again.

 Not even Prince Purple Draco Malfoy would be able to make him down. 

 

 ***

 

  _"No problem man, we are a good team. I said that, didn't I?"_

 Keith sat up abruptly from the seat of the Marmorite fighter (he was en route to Krolia's outpost). 

 "LANCE!!!!!!!!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE BONDING MOMENT!!!!! :D 
> 
> SEASON 6 WAS SO GOOD. Animation? STUNNING. Everything was so beautiful. Dialogue? AWESOME. Voice acting? TOP TIER. 
> 
> But, I'll have to admit I'm disappointed with the lack of Lance's development in this season - I was honestly expecting so much more of him, e.g. : getting involved with the Kuron plot, using his new bayard upgrade to form the blazing sword etc etc etc.
> 
> (And all the Klance parallels............. sobs...) 
> 
> Otherwise, this season was epic. I'm so looking forward to Season 7!

**Author's Note:**

> Well, thanks so much for reading! Please leave a review below and tell me what you think!


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